


The Raven

by TheStrangeSeaWolf



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Death penalty, Episode: s09e10 Face the Raven, Execution, F/M, Hurt/Comfort if you squint really hard, POV Raven, Whouffaldi if you squint, breaking rules, changing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:14:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21780796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStrangeSeaWolf/pseuds/TheStrangeSeaWolf
Summary: Have you ever wondered how the raven experienced "Face the Raven"? Well, I did...
Relationships: Twelfth Doctor & Clara Oswin Oswald, Twelfth Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	The Raven

This job sucked. At the sound of a chronolock turning to zero he gathered himself from the tattoo on the mayor’s chest, ruffled his feathers and straightened them meticulously.

Well, what can you do?

He was born a quantum shade and as such his job was to take the life from those who were marked with a chronolock when their time was up. No questions asked.

He saw the fear and despair of his victims. He saw the horror and grief of their friends and relatives. He saw them run for their lives, already knowing it would be in vain. He saw backs. Every single time he took a life it was through their back. Always had been this way, always will be. They never saw him when he did what he had to do. 

Did he feel compassion with his victims?

No.

There was always a reason they had to die. It was one of the fundamental truths that made the job bearable. They were convicted of a crime warranting death. It was not his decision to kill. The decision was made by a court, a mayor or a king, by people who held the power over life and death. He was just the executor of the law.

Sure, on some rare occassions a relative would take the chronolock from the victim. These were the cases where he questioned if what he did was right. But then again, he had no choice. There was no such thing as a quantum shade refusing to kill.

Luckily, he seldom was a witness to a chronolock exchange. So, in most cases, he could assume that he killed a convicted criminal.

He always assumed that, to be honest.

What if he assumed wrong?

What if there were more cases of chronolock exchange than he was told there were?

What if he had taken away more innocent lives than he thought?

No need to dwell on these thoughts.

A quantum shade was never doubting what he had to do.

He just did it.

It was his job.

And just now another chronolock had turned to zero.

He took a deep breath.

Work to do.

As he circled into the street, he saw a woman with brown hair stepping out of a house. The convict. But she didn't turn her back. She didn't run away from him. She turned and actually took a few steps towards him!

Well, that was certainly a first.

Behind her was a man, eyes red with tears, shock and horror on his face. Her father? Her husband? Someone close, for sure.

That man also didn’t turn his back. And he didn’t try to shield his loved one from him. Apparently, he had fully consciously decided to watch his loved one die. Well, this was also a first.

As the woman stepped towards him, he heard her mumble something. He listened.

"Let me be brave, let me be brave."

Oh, she was brave.

No one he had ever killed had been this brave.

Even the most unscrupulous and ruthless slayers had run away from him.

No one dared to face the raven.

He lost count on how many lives he took but it must have been thousands.

All of them had been running away.

All of them he had hit in the back.

Not this woman.

She was not just facing him, she walked towards him.

She would meet him instead of running away.

The moment of impact was here.

He hit the woman.

The replay of her life started.

He always tried not to look at it.

He didn’t want to know which kind of person he killed.

He never wanted to know it.

Maybe because he knew he wouldn’t be able to carry on if he knew.

But this woman’s memories were strong.

They entered his brain.

He saw dangers.

He saw war.

He saw people dying.

He saw grief.

He saw anger.

But above all he saw kindness, compassion and love.

A deep compassion that made her take the chronolock from a young man who was wrongly accused of murder. A young man who was a father. She had put herself in harm’s way for him and his family.

She was fearless and brave.

She broke the rules.

She never gave up.

She never gave in.

Even in the face of inevitable death she spent her last minutes on keeping the one she loved from taking revenge in her name.

He saw that she didn’t feel sorry for herself.

She felt sorry for him.

He had finished his job.

But the quantum shade that left this body was not the same that had entered it.

Something had changed.

She had broken all the rules.

Maybe he could, too.

Who said a quantum shade couldn’t break the rules?

Who said a quantum shade couldn’t change?

Who said that a quantum shade couldn’t refuse to kill?

He could at least try out what happened.

Like this woman did.

Screw the rules.

The next time a chronolock turned to zero he would fly out there.

But he would not kill the convict.

He would fly out there and would not return.

And just see what happens.


End file.
